"I'm a fan of this music in general. So I study the era before me, the era during my era, and the ones after me," said eternal crate digger DJ Premier whose anticipated new PRhyme 2 collaboration withRoyce Da 5'9" album arrived into Amoeba this week, March 16th 2018. Now three decades into a long illustrious and influential career that began with Premo and the late great emcee Guru as the iconic hip-hop duo of Gang Starr, DJ Premier is a rarity in hip-hop history: an ever in-demand producer who consistently makes relevant and exciting new music, with an uncanny gift for always bringing out the best in emcees.

Likely DJ Premier's secret to longevity lies in his unbridled passion for music (of all types) coupled with an inquisitive and always open mind. Unlike so many veteran hip-hop artists, quick to dismiss the current young wave of popular rap, Premier embraces and defends it. “I don’t even call it mumble rap but it is part of the hip-hop culture,” he said, further defending the “rebellious” spirit of today's oft maligned young hip-hop stars. “They might wear tight skinny jeans and all that but it’s still a part of what we did. We used to sag our jeans and everyone was telling us to pull up our pants……I was 19, 20 years old when I signed with Gang Starr,” he recalls in part one of the phone interview (above) recorded this week with the Amoeblog.

“We’re losing too many artists too young like Pam the Funkstress and DJ Stef, and now Craig Mack,”Shing02 told the Amoeblog Wednesday night in New York City. The multi-talented Japanese artist with Bay Area roots was speaking after last night's sold-out Brooklyn concert with his live hip-hop band (including Spin Master DJ A-1) at Rough Trade wheresurprise guest emcee, Bay Area transplant Kirby Dominant, came onstagefor an inspired impromptu rendition of Craig Mack’s rap hit “Flava In Ya Ear.” [see photo above c/o Yoshiaki Miura + left c/o Peter Agoston]

Hours earlier in the same day the audience learned the sad news of the passing of the 47 year old Long Island NY native who had died two days previously in South Carolina from “natural causes.” With a recording career dating back to 1988, when he was MC EZ, it wasn't until 1994 that Craig Mack made his indelible mark on hip-hop history. This he did as the breakout star on Sean (Puffy/Diddy) Comb’s then fledgling Bad Boy Entertainmentlabel with the hit ”Flava in Ya Ear" and its remix (scroll down for video) featuring LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes and a young little known Brooklyn rapper named Christopher Wallace known as Biggie Smalls and The Notorious B.I.G. (RIP).

Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard visited Amoeba Hollywood recently and shared some music picks and talked about his band Calpurnia, whose first single "City Boy" was just released last week. "Most of this music is very influential to us," Wolfhard said of his selections, which included his current favorite band, The Lemon Twigs. "They're only a couple years older than I am, which is crazy," the 15-year old actor and musician told us. "They put on an incredible live show," he said before plugging their live video shot during their in-store performance at Amoeba. "Check that out."

Canadian actor Finn Wolfhard is best-known for playing Mike Wheeler on Stranger Things. Born in Vancouver, Wolfhard made his first TV appearance on The CW sci-fi drama The 100. This was followed by an episode of Supernatural, in which he played Jordie Pinsky, a kidnapped boy threatened by a soulless babysitter. He auditioned for Stranger Things after seeing an open casting call. He and the rest of the cast won the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2017 SAG Awards.

On February 25th, the staff of Amoeba SF kept things very local and crossed Haight Street after closing in a group migration to Milk Bar for Amoebapalooza SF 2018! Part company party, part talent show featuring acts composed of Amoeba SF employees and friends, Amoebapalooza is a yearly tradition that is always a hoot. This year, the talent ranged from dramatic readings, to novelty rock, to electro-performance art, with lots of musical diversions and slices of pizza in between.

Thank you to our friends at SIR Studios for providing our musical back line and to Milk Bar for being the perfect venue and neighbor.